Knowledge Marketplace
My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

Back to Playbooks

Build million-dollar business while in high school

High school students with coding skills and social media savvy

6-18 months

What Success Looks Like

Generating 6-7 figures in annual revenue while maintaining academic performance and preparing for college

Steps to Execute

1

Learn coding from elementary school age (7+ years experience needed)

2

Build initial small projects to understand market dynamics

3

Identify AI enhancement opportunities in existing popular apps

4

Create minimum viable product with single impressive AI feature

5

Test with family/friends but disregard their feedback as biased

6

Reach out to micro-influencers with clear paid promo offers

7

Scale successful influencer partnerships across TikTok/Instagram

8

Reinvest all profits into growth until hitting profit ceiling

9

Build team of 10-15 employees while maintaining leadership role

Checklist

Have 7+ years coding experience
Understand TikTok content creation and viral mechanics
Have seed capital from previous ventures ($10K-$100K)
Can identify and reach micro-influencers in your niche
Can handle impostor syndrome and age-related challenges

Inputs Needed

  • Deep coding skills (preferably native mobile development)
  • Understanding of social media marketing and viral content
  • Initial capital for influencer payments
  • Co-founders with complementary skills
  • Supportive family environment

Outputs

  • Consumer app with 50K+ downloads
  • $1M+ annual recurring revenue
  • Team of 10+ employees
  • Strong personal brand and network
  • Financial independence before college

Example

“Zach started coding at 7, built unblocked games site at 14 for $60K/year, sold for $100K at 16, used proceeds to fund Cal app, reached $24M ARR in 10 months while maintaining 4.0 GPA”